Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak at the Sales Innovation Expo in London.
I had a great time at the expo, seeing all the different stands and what people had to offer, everything from CRM solutions, to marketing products, from dressed up folk selling their products to various speakers sharing their knowledge.
So what did I talk about? – well I shared a a few insights into how you should think like a customer, walk like a customer and talk like a customer. Well, not in that order and technically, not in that style. I shared my insights in how you should understand the customer and what they see as value. I shared some insights into Lean Thinking (no plug for my blog!), and most importantly, a few case studies. Case studies with results and proven ROI – but using these principles you can also use to make a good return on investment.
I won’t go into the whole presentation, but below is the Lean Thinking cycle I shared.
For those who don’t know what Lean is, it’s the elimination of waste. Waste is what we can identify in a process, and can be categorised into one of seven categories. I’ll share more in future blogs, but for now, there’s a couple things to remember, one is to understand your customer and what they want. What they really really want.
Back to the Expo, and the Sales folk were out in force. But there were one or two who i thought could have put more effort in…
But then, maybe that’s their style. Minimalist. Met some great people, and lots of opportunity. Not sure if there was one, but would’ve been great to see a networking type of event embedded – something like where you have 5 mins to pitch what you do, and then for others to rate you 1 – 10 in terms of a) how they could collaborate with you or b) if they know someone who’d be really interested in what you do. This would then develop so many opportunities for people to get involved, and most importantly share ideas with each other.
That was another one of my slides, and you may have seen it on twitter. You may be clever, but you don’t always have to have the answers. Go and talk to others. Go and collaborate. Go and listen to other people and what they are doing. Go and figure out what your customer really wants and how you working with others could provide that.
Go figure.
Go Do.
Just Do it!